A Small World

Summary:
Edward leaves Bella. She is attacked by Laurent and turned into a vampire. Now, twenty yeas later, she's back in Forks. The leader of the coven, Meg is getting engaged. The Cullens are invited. Will Bella let Edward rectify his mistake? Or will she move on as he intenede for her to do so?

Notes:

9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9
Bella
"What?" I asked rudely.
"Why did he call?"
I could tell that he was trying very hard to stay calm. I shrugged.
"I don't know. He never really got to the point."
Tanya burst outside.
"Eddie, Esme wants to know if…Oh…" She halted when she saw me.
"Um..Never mind. Bella, Shelly and Tasha have already left."
She turned and walked back in the house. Crap! How was I going to get a ride home?
"I'll drive you," Edward offered.
I laughed without humor. "I'll pass. I can run home."
"No, you cannot," Carlisle said, stepping outside.
"Edward, I left some files in the hospital. I'm about to go get it. I can drop Bella home."
"There's really no need," I protested.
"Nonsense. It's on my way," he assured me.
"Fine," I replied with a sigh.
Carlisle smiled at me and walked to the car. I followed him without even a glance in Edward's direction.
Daniel
I ducked into the forest and jumped into a tree as I heard Bella accept Carlisle's offer. I was just out of smelling(and hearing) range of the Cullens' mansion. I was there just as a precaution. I didn't want to leave Bella alone with Edward and his family.
I had called her, expecting her to escape at the earliest possible opportunity but she refused. She never failed to amaze me.
"What's up?"
I spun around. A familiar head of strawberry blonde hair was visible from below.
"Tanya?"
"The one and only," she beamed at me, before launching herself up next to me.
"What are you doing here?" I asked her.
She snorted. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? I stay just around the corner."
Without waiting for a response, she continued, "Couldn't stay without your mate? She's fine without you."
"Bella is not my mate. She's in love with your stupid mate who left her!"
"He left her for her own good," she replied.
"Do you even realize how stupid that sounds?" I asked.
"Yeah. But Edward though he was keeping her safe. He had no idea! He spent all of these years mourning because he thought she was dead."
This was a surprise to me. "What?"
"Yeah. And he's not my mate," she mumbled.
"He's not?"
"No. He loves Bella."
"Bella loves him too."
"What?!" she screeched.
I covered her mouth. "Shut it. They have ears you know."
Her eyes widened in recognition and she nodded once before I removed my hand.
"But….you and her… and…the outing before…wha…"
"We were pretending so that Shelly and Tash would leave her alone."
"So you guys aren't together?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No."
"Well, why don't we get them together?"
"What? How? Edward doesn't deserve her."
"You have no idea how he has suffered. And besides you said it yourself, Bella loves him."
"Fine. But this is impossible. They are both so stubborn!"
"Trust me. Look it'll be easy. All we have to do is get them alone. Edward will tell her why he left."
"Why did he leave? He said he didn't love her," I pointed out.
"Jasper was about to attack Bella on her eighteenth birthday. Edward realized how risky their relationship was and so he left. It hurt him more then it hurt her."
I scoffed. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."
"Anyway," she continued, "he will tell her and they will kiss and make up. Simple."
"And let me repeat myself. Bella is stubborn. She won't want to be alone with him."
"Just magically disappear like you did before. There's no way she can be mad at you."
I jumped down from the tree.
"You obviously don't know Bella," I said, shaking my head.
"O ye of little faith. Can we not try it and see?"
"I don't know," I said doubtfully.
"Just give it a try!" she begged.
"Okay fine. You're just as bad as Alice."
"Really? That's so sweet of you," she looked really proud.
"That's not a compliment," I told her.
"It is to me," she replied.
"When do we start?" I asked.
"Um.. ."
She chewed on her lip. I had to admit she looked pretty cute. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. What was I thinking? I didn't like Tanya in that way, right?
"Tomorrow," she decided.
"Okay."
"Great. I'll call you."
We exchanged numbers. A small part of me wondered if this was a good idea while the other part of me liked the idea. And it wasn't just the idea of Bella happy that I liked.
I liked the idea of Tanya having my number.
Yep, I was clearly losing it.
The next day we were supposed to meet to play baseball. There was a thunderstorm.
Bella pulled out, saying that she wasn't in the mood. Meg and Shelly managed to get her to come to the baseball clearing although she didn't play.
We played in teams. Tanya, Peter, Emmett, Nathan, Jasper and I were on one team. Carlisle, Edward, Rosalie, Alice, Meg, Shelly were on the other.
We played for most of the day. As I packed up my stuff, my cell phone beeped. It was a message from Tanya.
Look at Bella!
I discreetly looked up. Bella was walking away. Not very far away from her was Edward. I had no doubt that he would try to catch up with her. But would she listen to him?
Bella
I watched Dan as he scrutinized his reflection in the mirror.
"Dan, it's just a baseball game. Why are you putting so much of effort into getting ready?" I asked him.
Meg and Peter were downstairs, waiting for Shelly and Dan to finish getting ready. We were going to play baseball with the Cullens. I didn't want to go but Meg insisted.
"Unlike you, Bella I actually care what I look like," he shot back.
I rolled my eyes.
"Bella," Peter yelled from downstairs.
"Yes?" I called back.
"Jake's here to see you."
I tossed one last look at Dan before heading downstairs. Jacob grabbed me into a hug.
"Hi," I said, laughing.
"Hi and guess what?"
"What?"
He bent down and whispered into my ear, "I imprinted."
Of course, in a houseful of vampires, whispering was a wasted effort.
Yells of "Congrats" and "Who is she?" echoed all though the house.
"Her name is Vanessa. She just moved to the Res."
"How old is she?" I asked cautiously, remembering that imprinting had no age limit.
"Sixteen."
"That's great. I'm really happy for you, Jake."
It was true. I was. I had actually thought that Jake would never imprint.
"So yeah, I just wanted to tell you."
He shifted uncomfortably.
"I take it that Romeo longs to be back with his Juilet?" Peter asked.
Jacob blushed and nodded.
"Well, then go," I ordered, nudging him towards the door.
"Thanks."
He hugged me again and ran outside.
"I can't believe he imprinted," Shelly said, appearing next to me.
"It is pretty unbelievable," Tash agreed from the lounge where she and Nathan were busy.
"Daniel, are you ready?" Meg asked.
"Nearly," he called back.
Meg sighed. "We can't wait any longer. We need to leave."
"I'll wait with him. You can go on," I said to Meg.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Tash, lets go," Meg ordered.
"But I'm busy. And Dan's not ready," she protested as Shelly grabbed her, pulling her towards the door.
"Bella's waiting with him. Now come on."
Tash pouted but did as Meg asked. We knew not to mess with Meg.
I waved goodbye to them and settled in front of the tv. I had no idea during which century Daniel was planning to come downstairs.
Half an hour later, Dan was still in his room. I heaved a sigh and went to his room. He was standing in front of the mirror, shirtless.
"I should have known that being alone with you was a bad idea," I said in mock-fear.
"Hilarious, Bella."
"Why aren't you ready?"
"Choose one," he replied, ignoring me and handing me two shirts.
"Um, green."
"Are you sure?" he looked at the shirt doubtfully.
"Yes. Dan, why does it matter?"
"It doesn't," he replied defensively, putting the shirt on.
He answered quickly. Too quickly.
"Whatever. Get ready and meet me in the car."
"I'm on my way," he said, following me.
"Oh. Wait."
I paused at his door.
"What?"
I moved towards him and ruffled his hair.
"Bella!"
"Oops. My bad," I said, giggling.
"I'm going to have to do it again," he moaned.
"Oh no, you don't."
I grabbed his arm and pulled him to the car. He made a face but didn't resist.
The drive to the clearing was quick, only about 20 minutes. Dan sulked throughout the whole way. I paid no attention to him.
We arrived just as the second game was starting. I found a rock and sat, cross-legged on it. I watched the match. I hated baseball, for obvious reasons.
They played throughout the whole day. I may have just been over-reacting but I noticed that Dan and Tanya seemed to get on really well. A bit too well for my liking.
When they had finally finished, I walked away. I didn't want to spend any more time with the Cullens. Well, actually I didn't want to spend anymore time with Tanya.
As I was making my escape, I realized that someone was following me. I had no doubt that my pursuer was Edward. I tried to walk faster, without actually running. If I ran, the others would get suspicious.
Alice gasped. "Bella, stop!"
I turned around, confused at her alarmed tone. I felt something scrap against my arm. I heard Edward growl and I felt him push me out of the way. I fell to the ground.
Edward stood in front of me, in a defensive position that I recognized all too well. He was blocking my view from whatever had attacked me.
I looked down at my arm. It had healed but it stung. Dan and Tanya rushed towards me, flanking me on either end.
Carlisle, Peter, Emmett, Jasper and Nathan all joined Edward. They all crouched in a straight line.
Dan helped me get to my feet. I peeked at my attacker. I gasped and shrunk back, into Dan. It was a newborn vampire.
The newborn growled at Edward and tried to get past him. Edward rushed towards the newborn and began tearing it apart.
"Start a fire," Carlisle ordered.
Without a few seconds, the others had left their line and got a fire burning. Dan and Tanya were still next to me.
Alice closed her eyes. "There's more coming," she said.
"Dan, escort the girls home and then come back. We need to find out who created these newborns," Peter said.
Dan nodded and pulled me away. I followed him unwillingly. It seemed like every baseball game with the Cullens was doomed to end up with blood-thirsty vampires. Vampires who always wanted to kill me. Stupid luck, I thought to myself.
Dan left us home and returned to the field.
"Bella, are you okay?" Esme asked.
"I'm fine," I repeated for the thousandth time.
It was as if I was a weak, clumsy human again. Everyone had been fussing over me. Even Rosalie and Tanya.
Alice sighed. "I still can't see anything," she complained.
"Try again," Rosalie urged her.
"It's fine, Alice."
"No, it's not," Dan said, entering through the window.
"Those newborns were sent for you. They were created specifically to kill you. There's more of them. We just don't know how many," Nathan added.
"Who created them?" Meg asked, appalled.
I tried to remain calm. I was pretty sure that I knew who it was.
Dan didn't answer. This just confirmed my suspicions.
Nathan answered, "Someone called Victoria."